Talor Gooch shot a final-round 67 and then beat Sergio Garcia in a playoff to claim victory at LIV Golf Singapore.
Gooch joins Brooks Koepka (67) as a two-time winner on the LIV Golf circuit, while becoming the first to win back-to-back events.
The victory moves Gooch to the top of LIV Golf’s individual points standings for the 2023 season.
Unlike last week at LIV Golf Adelaide, though, Gooch was able to celebrate two trophies at Sentosa Golf Club, as his RangeGoats GC also took home the team title, shooting a cumulative 12 under on Sunday to finish on 37 under for the week, three strokes clear of Garcia’s Fireballs GC.
It was the first team win for the Bubba Watson-captained RangeGoats GC.
“We’ve been talking about being up there on the podium,” said Gooch. “I’ve been telling them how much I’m going to spray ‘em in the face with champagne for a long time now. We knew it was coming and it was only a matter of time.”
The RangeGoats are the fifth different team to win this season in as many events. Last week, the RangeGoats came up a single stroke short of the 4Aces, who lead the season-long team standings this year.
Team captain Watson added Gooch to his lineup in the offseason to join good friend Harold Varner III. Newcomer Thomas Pieters also joined the team.
“Thank you for stepping up and wanting to be part of the Goats,” Watson said as he stood with his teammates. “This is an honor and a privilege to be here and be alongside these guys. It’s special. They wanted to be on the team. They wanted to be on my team.”
With just four holes to play on Sunday, the RangeGoats trailed the Fireballs by one strokes but severe weather delayed play for an hour. Once play resumed, though, Varner scored two key birdies as part of his contributing 6-under 65. One of those scores was a chip-in birdie on his restart hole.
Varner said, “Every time we had a delay this week, Bubba was like, ‘Hey, give me some good shots.’ And I walked up to the table and I said, ‘I’m going to walk over there and I’m going to chip this in after we go back.’ And that’s what happened.”
Individually, Gooch and Garcia were tied at 16 when play resumed. Garcia dropped a stroke at the 15th hole, missing a short par putt, but bounced back with a birdie on No. 16. Both players birdied the par-5 18th to finish on 17 under, forcing a playoff, the fourth extra set in LIV Golf history and the second this season.
Playing the 18th hole in overtime, Gooch took an aggressive line off the tee, landing close to the water. But it set up an easy second shot which found the green. Meanwhile, Garcia’s second shot landed in a greenside bunker. He then flubbed his shot from the sand, landing in the rough just above the bunker. After Gooch easily two-putted for birdie, Garcia needed to hole from the greenside rough. He missed.
“It’s one of those days that I’ll remember,” said Gooch. “I grew up watching Sergio. He’s one of the greatest golfers of this generation. To go and battle with him and come out on top is something I’ll never forget.”
Kopeka finished solo third on 16 under. It was the four-time major winner’s third top-3 finish in his last four starts (LIV Orlando-1st, The Masters-T2, LIV Singapore-3rd).
LIV Golf Singapore: Top-10 Scores
Pos-Player-Score (Final Rd)
1. Talor Gooch -17 (-4)*
2. Sergio Garcia -17 (-4)
3. Brooks Koepka -16 (-4)
4. Scott Vincent -15 (-4)
5. Mito Pereira -14 (5)
6. Jason Kokrak -12 (-5)
6. Cam Smith -12 (-1)
8. Charles Howell III -11 (-8)
8. Harold Varner III -11 (-6)
8. Joaquin Niemann -11 (-5)
* Won in a playoff
LIV Golf Singapore: Top-3 Moneymakers
Pos-Player-Money
1. Talor Gooch – $4m
2. Sergio Garcia – $2.25m
3. Brooks Koepka – $1.5m
LIV Golf Singapore: Top-5 Teams
Pos-Team (Captain)-Score (Final Rd)
1. RangeGoats (Bubba) -37 (-12)
2. Fireballs (Sergio) -34 (-13)
3. Crushers (Bryson) -32 (-20)
4. Torque (Niemann) -31 (-11)
5. Smash (Koepka) -30 (-13)
Content produced using LIV Golf media press release and statistics.
